Method of building a floating structure of large size such as a hull and the like



Feb. 27, 1968 MASATARO Mu To ETAL 3,370,563

METHOD OF BUILDING A FLOATING STRUCTURE OF LARGE SIZE SUCH AS A HULL ANDTHE LIKE Filed Jan. 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Shem 1 MASATAR pINVENTORS O Uynsumsm 81416 0 and ad lm Amman/5 5 1968 MASATARO MUTO ETAL 3,370,563

METHOD OF BUILDING A FLOATING STRUCTURE OF LARGE SIZE SUCH AS A HULL ANDTHE LIKE Filed Jan. 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 AWORNEKS United StatesPatent 3,370,563 METHOD 0F BUILDING A FLOATING STRUC- TURE 0F LARGE SIZESUCH AS A HULL AND THE LIKE Masataro Muto, Tokyo, and Yasutoshi Sano,Yokohamashi, Japan, assignors to Mitsubishi .Iukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,Tokyo, Japan Filed Jan. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 608,577 Claims priority,application Japan, July 4, 1966, 41/ 43,401 6 Claims. (Cl. 114-77)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method of building a floating structuresuch as a ship hull is described in respect to various illustratedmethod steps and method variations. The floating structure is built byfirst constructing a first part, for example a stern part or stern bodyas a dry building berth or dry dock and either simultaneously with itsbuilding or directly thereafter constructing an intermediate hullportion or joining member to the section which is being built directlyon the dock. The intermediate member is advantageously temporarilysecured to the first part such as by fixing jigs which are removed aftercompletion of the first part and the forming member in order to permitthe separate launching of the finished first part.

Thereafter another section or second part, for example a bow section, isjointed to the intermediate joining member which remains on the dockadvantageously at the sea or water end thereof to permit building of thesecond part directly to the intermediate joining member. The second partwith the joining member are launched into the water from the berth andthe assembly is joined to the first part in the water.

A modification of the method is to launch the joining member with thefirst part so that it is moved oil the building dock. Thereafter thejoining member is removed from the first part and towed back to the drydock and positioned so that the second part may be built directly ontothe joining member.

In accordance with still another method the joining member which hasbeen secured to the first part may be removed from the first part topermit separate launching thereof and then the joining member isreversed in position so that the second part may be jointed theretoproceeding in the direction from the inner end of the dock outwardlytoward the water or the sea.

In a still further modification the joining member is hingedly connectedto the section of the vessel which has first been constructed so that itmay be easily removed after the member is floated in the water or evenprior thereto after it has been completed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method ofbuilding a floating structure of a large size such as a ship hull andthe like and more particularly to a method by which a large-sizefloating structure is built easily by the use of the existing buildinginstallation and an intermediate hull connecting section. v

The principal object of the invention is to join separately builtstructure sections of a floating structure such as a hull and the liketo one another as one body in the building dock or in a floatingcondition on the water or sea in a simple manner and in safety.

Another object of the invention is to improve an accuracy of working andto save time for conformation of sections of a floating structure suchas a hull and the like which are built separately in the building berthor dock by joining those sections to one another respectively throughinterposition of a joining member as an intermediate member which waspreviously built in abutment against the joining portion of eachsection.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of several embodiments thereof illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate a first embodiment of the inven tion;

FIG. 1 shows schematically an afterbody of a hull construction;

FIG. 2 shows the afterbody of the hull in a launching condition;

FIG. 3 shows a forebody of the hull under construction;

FIG. 4 shows the fore and the afterbody joined to each other;

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a second embodiment of the inventioncorresponding to FIGS. 1 and 3 with the exception that the afterbody isbuilt in the reversed position;

FIG. 7 illustrates a third embodiment of the invention wherein theforebody is built together with a joint member at its rear end which wasturned by after construction of the afterbody; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a fourth embodiment of the invention wherein theafterbody with a joining member hinged thereto is in a launchingcondition.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, 1 denotes a building berth, 2 anafterbody of a hull, and 3 a joining member for use in joining theafterbody 2 and a forebody 6 of a hull to each other. To begin with, theafterbody 2 is built on the building berth 1. Further the ring-shapedjoining member 3 which corresponds to the rear end of the forebody 6 isbuilt directly adjacent the forebody 6 on the building berth 1 and tojoining portions 4, 4' thereof are secured to the afterbody 2 of joiningjigs is. Then the afterbody 2 is launched, as shown in FIG. 2, while thejoining member 3 is then moved outwardly to the end of the sea end ofthe building berth 1 and serves as an end member of the forebody 6 whichis built inwardly therefrom as shown in FIG. 3.

To the fore-end 5 of the joining member 3 which is fixed at apredetermined position after movement are welded a number ofprefabricated blocks one after another to form the forebody 6. Theforebody 6 is thus completed integrally with the joining member 3.

The completed forebody 6 after launching is joined to the afterbody 2which has previously been launched through interposition of the joiningmember 3 either in the building dock or in a floating condition on thewater, as shown in FIG. 4.

Upon welding side platings of the joining portions to each other belowthe water line, those portions are covered with a waterproof band whosecross section is nearly semicircular and which is made of an elasticmaterial such as rubber or the like and reinforced with wire frames ofsufiicient strength to stand water pressure. Then water in the spacecovered with the waterproof band is discharged and welding of the sideplatings is carried out in the dry space.

While execution of joining the bodies on the sea has been described inthe above embodiment, it may be carried out in a dock. In this case oneof both bodies to be joined, as a basis in joining, is at first placedon blocks,

' and the relative position of the other to the one is adjusted bydischarging water in the dock instead of pouring ballast into one of thebodies. After adjustment of the deck levels of both bodies, they arefixed and welded to each other at their joining portions in a drycondition.

A new hull which has been built by joining as described 7 above, uponfinal docking prior to oflicial trial, is inspected at the inside weldedportion below the water,

repaired, if necessary, and finally riveted at the rivet joint portion.

FIG. illustrates a second embodimentwherein the afterbody 2 is built onthe building berth 1 with the joining portions 4, 4' connected to theafterbody 2 while the joining member 3 is situated at the sea side. Inthis case the joining member 3 at the rear end of the afterbody is builtsimultaneously with the afterbody in such manner that the joiningportions 4 and 4' of the afterbody 2 and the joining member 3 areconformed to each other in cross section as described above, and thenlaunched to float together with the .afterbody 2.

The joining member 3 is then separated from the afterbody 2 on the sea,turned to the reverse direction there and pulled again into the buildingberth 1 to be fixed. The forebody 6 is built in conformation to thejoining member 3 as shown in FIG. 6. The thus built afterbody 2 and theforebody 6 are joined to each other in the manner described in the firstembodiment. In this embodimer t it is unnecessary to move the joiningmember 3 as an end member for building the forebody 6 on the buildingberth 1 from the end at the shore side of the building berth to the endat the sea side, and this eliminates a troublesome work of moving thejoining member on the building berth. Further it is advantageous for theprogress.

of work that the stern portion of a next hull, which requires ;a largeramount of work for building, may be built at the shore side end of thesame building berth simultaneously with construction of the forebody 6.

FIG. 7 illustrates a third embodiment wherein the joining member 3,after launch of the afterbody 2 as shown in FIG. 2, is turned by 180 onthe building berth 1, in conformation to which the forebody is built. Inthis case the forebody 6 is built with the joining portion directed tothe shore. This method makes it unnecessary not only to move the joiningmember 3 from the shore side end to the sea side end on the buildingberth 1 for use as an end member in building the forebody 6 as in thefirst embodiment, but it is .also unnecessary to pull the reversedjoining member 3 into the building berth after launching together withthe afterbody 2 as in the second embodiment. Since the forebody 6 uponbuilding issuitated with the joining portion 5 directed to the shore,increase in buoyancy of the body upon launching is slower than that inthe first and the second embodiment so that the position of lift bystern lines at the sea side result in reduction of pivoting load. Inaddition this embodiment has another advantage of unnecessary ballastadjustment. Joining of both bodies is carried out in the same way asdescribed in connection with the firstembodiment. V

PEG. 8 illustrates a fourth embodiment wherein the joining member 3 iscoupled with the afterbody 2, when it is situated as in FIG. 1, by meansof a hinge member 7 arranged at the end of upper deck and launchedtogether with the afterbody.

In this case the joining member 3 is separated from the afterbody 2 onthe sea and thereafter pulled into the building berth or the dock. Theforebody 6, after being built in conformation to the joining member 3,is joined to the afterbody 2 in the same way as described in FIGS. 3 and4.

In the above fourth embodiment as in the second embodiment, it isunnecessary to move the joining member 3 to the sea side end of theberth. Further it is of advantage for the progress of work that thestern portion of a next new hull, which requires a larger amount of workfor building, may be constructed at the shore side end of the same berthsimultaneously with construction of the forebody 6. Since the joiningmember 3 is coupled with the afterbody 2 only by means of the hingemember 7, its uncoupling is easy.

As described above, the invention obviates disadvantages of the priordirect connection of hull sections; andmakes it possible to improveaccuracy of working and to save time for conformation of hull sectionsto be joined by joining those sections through interposition of ajoining member as an intermediate member which is previously built inabutment against a hull portion.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in connectionwith preferred embodiments, it is apparent that various modificationsmay be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of building a floating structure such as a ship hull using adry dock adjacent the water, comprising constructing a first part of thefloating structure on a dry dock, constructing an intermediate joiningmember forming a separate part directly adjacent said first part at theend thereof which is to be joined to a second part, launching said firstpart into the water, thereafter building a second part to the joiningmember on the dry 7 dock, launching the second part with the joiningmemher into the water, and orienting the joining member adjacent thefirst part and connecting the first part to the second part by joiningthe joining member to said first part.

2. A method of building a floating structure such as a ship hull using adry dock having an end directed toward water, comprising constructing afirst section of the floating structure on a dry dock, constructing anintermediate joining member forming a separate section directly to thefirst section at the end thereof which is to be joined to a secondsection to be built, removing the joining member from the ship sectionwhich has been constructed and launching the section which has beenconstructed into the water, moving the joining member along the dry dockto the end thereof adjacent the water thereafter building said secondsection to the joining member, launching said second section with saidjoining member into the water, and orienting said joining memberadjacent said first ship section and connecting said first section tosaid second section by joining the joining member to said first section.

3. A method of building a floating structure such as a ship hull using adry dock having an end adjacent the water, comprising constructing afirst section of the fioating structure on the dry dock, constructing anintermediate joining member, launching the second section with thedirectly to said first section and the end thereof which is to be joinedto'an'othe'r' section, launching the section which has been constructedand the joining member into the water, directing said joining memberback to said dry dock, thereafter building a second section to saidjoining member, launching the second section with the joining memberinto the water and orienting the joining member adjacent the firstsection and connecting the first section to the second section byjoining the joining member to said first section.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said joining member is removedfrom said first section prior to the launching thereof and where it isrotated on said drydock, said second section being built inwardly fromsaid joining member.

5. A method according toclaim 1, wherein said joining member is hingedlyconnected to-said first section to permit easy removal therefrom.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said first section is a sternsection, said second section comprising a bow section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1956 Quirin 114-77 X 5/1967Deal 11477

